Low tides this time of year aren’t mega-low (here’s the chart) – but low enough to happen onto sights like that one, photographed by Eve at Lincoln Park on Friday. In the note accompanying the photo, she wondered why there’s such a wide color variation among the common sea stars, as demonstrated in these two. We did find at least one scientific paper that suggested an explanation – but perhaps someone with a little more user-friendly marine-biology knowhow has a simpler answer!
(Cameraphone added 5:23 pm, generator truck at Lowman Beach)
Just got word from King County Wastewater Treatment that, as often happens in power outage situations, this one triggered an overflow at the Murray Avenue pump station by Lowman Beach. The county estimates 40,000 gallons of wastewater overflowed for about 15 minutes before they got a portable generator going so the normal pumping could continue. They’ve posted signs on the shore, however, warning of possible contamination. (Added: We talked with Annie Kolb-Nelson at the county; she confirms Lowman still doesn’t have an emergency generator – that’s part of the CSO projects, with a meeting coming up March 29.) Read on for the full news release:Read More
Eric Shalit of Box Turtle Design shared that rather grabby shot of a “slackliner” he encountered today at Alki. So, we asked, how high off the ground was he, and what was the “slackline” tied to? In reply, Eric sent another photo; to see it, click here.
After reading the WSB followup Sunday on Neal Chism, who patrols for trash/debris part of the Duwamish shore near the West Seattle Bridge, Jenshared the photo above, explaining:
This photo shows the garbage (including a syringe/needle) picked up (Sunday) afternoon along a short stretch of West Seattle beach, a couple miles south of the Fauntleroy dock. All of this was picked up in the space of about 350 feet of shoreline. The recent super high tides seem to be bringing lots of trash. Imagine how much trash would be collected off local beaches, if all of us who walk the shoreline picked up the garbage as we walked…
I’ll be taking a bigger trash bag with me (today).
If you have the chance to get out on the beach today – the lowest daytime tide is at 12:34 pm (here’s the monthly chart).
You’ve heard of beached whales, seals, sea lions .. but you don’t see an octopus quite that often. Jana shared that photo after the discovery on a West Seattle beach. Just last weekend, as noted here, the Seattle Aquarium sponsored the Giant Pacific Octopus Census, asking divers off Seacrest and other area spots to count what they saw. The Aquarium also is bringing its volunteer beach naturalists – who are summertime fixtures on West Seattle shores – to the beach south of Alki Point for a nighttime low-tide walk next Friday (1/29), 8-10 pm. More info here, including the link to RSVP.
Judging by our early-morning inbox yield, some folks followed up on the recommendation we shared Tuesday from Lura, who sent info about late night low tides continuing the next two nights – David Rosen from SlickPix Photography saw the stars you see above, and the Alki curve you see below:
We also have a bit of video from Alki – WSB contributing reporter Mary Sheely was out with husband Dave Sheely (catch his designs at Urban Craft Uprising this weekend!) and they spotted this camouflaged crab:
Also a photographer’s delight – the full moon that’s just graced us – the prospect of seeing it come up pre-dusk led to this lineup:
Thanks to “westseattledood” for that shot of photographers staked out at the Admiral Way viewpoint last night, awaiting the moonrise over the downtown skyline. Haven’t seen any photos of it yet but we’d love to run one if you have one! Facing the other way, we received a few dusk photos of the USS John C Stennis out and about again – this one from Chris S with the Olympics’ “The Brothers” peaks in the background:
(September 2007 nighttime photo of beached jelly on Alki)
Thanks to Lura for sharing this info:
I’m not sure how many nature lovers are willing to brave the cold, but tonight and the next two nights have some extreme low tides. The rare clear sky and full moon means that you’ll be able to walk way, way out and see all sorts of nocturnal sea creatures – shrimp, starfish, crabs, clams…
Low tonight is -3.4 at 10:42 pm
Thursday night -3.5 at 11:27 pm, and
Friday night (early Saturday) -3.2 at 12:14.
That’s how Chas Redmond captioned this scene from Alki. (There’s probably also a “different way to stuff the bird” joke lurking in there too.) By the way, the forecast is calling for “more of the same” for the foreseeable future.
Thanks to Morgan Community Association‘s Cindi Barker for that photo, and some info, from last night’s meeting about protecting south West Seattle waters from sewer overflows during major storms. May sound desperately unglamorous, but before you find your favorite beach getting dug up by the chosen project – and/or polluted by an overflow – you might want to have some input into the decisions that have to be made, in a process including last night’s meeting and another one tonight: King County Wastewater Treatment has four options from which to choose for handling what are known as Combined Sewer Overflows. Last night, the open-house-format meeting focused on the Murray basin – waters north and south of Lowman Beach that are affected if the Murray pump area has an overflow; tonight (6:30-8:30 pm, The Hall at Fauntleroy, just drop by during that window), it’ll focus on the Barton basin – affected if there’s an overflow from the Barton pump area (alongside the Fauntleroy ferry dock). Here are the four options for handling the overflows:\
*Increase pumping capacity so EVERYTHING can go to a treatment station (explained here)
*Storage – Build a huge tank to hold onto the overflow till it can be sent through the system post-storm (explained here)
*On-site treatment: Build treatment facilities near the pump station to be put into use when the regular system can’t handle the flow (explained here)
*Reduce flows into the system by working with property owners on measures such as disconnecting roof drains, creating rain gardens and bioswales (explained here)
The county says the average overflow at each of those sites is a million gallons; Murray averages five a year, Barton averages four. The county is taking feedback now and plans to come out with site-specific recommendations early next year. As you can see from the list, the alternatives are dramatically different – drop by tonight’s meeting and find out more about the pros and cons. (Both of these sites, by the way, remain in queue for future pump-station upgrades, beyond the decisions on how to handle the CSOs.)
Just in from the county (you can read more about CSOs here):
Two meetings, sponsored by King County Wastewater Treatment Division, will be held in West Seattle dealing with the the CSO Beach Projects. CSOs or combined sewer overflows occur in older parts of the city during heavy rain events when storm water enters the sewer system. King County is working to reduce the number of occurrences and the amount of CSO volume. Please come to the open house to learn more about the problem and King County’s approach to achieving CSO control in your neighborhood.
Open House for the Morgan Neighborhood
Wednesday, October 7, 2009
6:30-8:30 pm
Kenney Retirement Center, 7125 Fauntleroy Ave SW
Open House for the Fauntleroy Neighborhood
Thursday, October 8, 2009
6:30-8:30 pm
Hall at Fauntleroy, 9131 California Ave SW
(photo by Brenda Peterson) By Tracy Record
West Seattle Blog editor
Digging for shellfish at most – if not all – West Seattle beaches is unsafe and unlawful.
Not everyone knows that. It seemed to be news to three men confronted this morning while digging along Beach Drive, before they agreed to put the clams – a cooler full of them, as you see in the photo above — back.
This all began when Brenda Peterson, a West Seattle author and wildlife advocate, was out walking on the beach this morning, as she does most mornings as the founder of Seal Sitters, the local group that watches for baby seals this time of year, and, when one is found, assigns volunteers to guard it from human/animal disturbance till its mom comes back for it.
Peterson spotted three men going back and forth along a sizable stretch of Beach Drive shore, where the tide was somewhat out this morning, digging big holes, and filling a blue and white cooler.
She tried calling wildlife agents and got only voice mail. She also called WSB.
Full story on this coming up later but wanted to post a quick alert now. We were just out covering three men digging clams up along Beach Drive, which is (a) illegal and (b) dangerous – the beaches are closed to shellfish harvesting for health reasons, explained here (and most of it wouldn’t be open anyway – either parkland or private property). Confronted by a local wildlife advocate, they claimed it was for personal use, claimed they had no idea about the health risks etc., and returned the 100-plus clams to the beach. But in case they just packed up and moved somewhere else, be on the lookout – copper/gold Suburban-type SUV with plate starting with 861, blue and white cooler. More later!
Thanks to Tim McMonigle from the West Seattle Soccer Club for spotting news of a big new event headed to West Seattle – Seattle’s wildly popular Sounders FC pro-soccer organization is presenting the first-ever Sounders FC Soccer Beach Blast Tournament on Alki, set for August 23rd. Signups are under way now; here’s where to register and to find out more (note that co-sponsor Super Supplements, which has a West Seattle Junction store, is offering a coupon for discount registration). 2:58 PM NOTE: The fine print says this is for ages 18 and up.
(bees photographed by Rick, who reported them)
First: We’ve received reports this afternoon by phone and e-mail that the water at Alki looks “gross” (among other descriptions). Haven’t been there yet to check firsthand, and can’t find any official reports of a problem – we had a suspected algae bloom on the western West Seattle shores not that long ago, but reports say this is green, not brown. Meantime, from Arbor Heights, a report of a bee swarm near 37th/102nd. Maybe all this has to do with the heat? We’ll be checking … ADDED 6:39 PM: Via Twitter, a diver offers the opinion it’s an algae bloom. We found this state Ecology Department photo from May – sounds like the descriptions we received; here’s general information from People for Puget Sound.
Thanks to Gatewood writer Pam from Nerd’s Eye View for that photo from low tide today (almost as low as yesterday) at Lincoln Park. We also received some great pix from “Admiral Lady” that we didn’t get around to adding yesterday, like this one:
Tomorrow’s low tide is still notably low, if you haven’t had a chance to be tide-walk yet but might get a chance tomorrow – minus 2.9, in the 1 pm hour – here’s a chart.
Thanks to those who shared photos from today’s low tide – and tomorrow will be even lower, the lowest of the summer, minus 3.9 just before noon. The starfish above and the tide explorers below are both courtesy of Amy; the crab is courtesy of Jim. All three photos were taken at Lincoln Park.
If you can make it out to the beach at midday tomorrow, you will find volunteer beach naturalists (here’s Seattle Aquarium info on the program) south of Alki Point and at Lincoln Park south of Colman Pool, from 10 am till 2 pm. P.S. Kevin points out that if you’re on a downtown-facing beach, there’s another sight to see: The cruise ship that’s in port at Pier 66 till Wednesday is The World, which isn’t just a vacation vessel – it actually sells “residences” on board.
Another big weekend ahead – and even before we get to the West Seattle Weekend Lineup tomorrow morning, we want to hit some of the highlights. Here’s one: Want to help clean up West Seattle’s most famous beach? The Alki Volleyball Association‘s inviting everyone – players or not – to join in a big cleanup (AVA photo above is from last year) this Saturday. It’s one of two volunteer beach cleanups the AVA sponsors every year, and Phillip from AVA says: “There will be refreshments and prizes! Free T-Shirts to volunteers. Look for the white tent and AVA blue AVA banner close to the Bathhouse side of the beach on Saturday morning between 9 am and 1 pm.”
REUSIES ON TV: You may have heard about ReUsies, cloth sandwich bags invented by West Seattle moms, now making a splash nationwide. KING5 has a story about them today – and the story notes that ReUsies are selling so well, they’ve “hired a manufacturer in Tukwila to help them keep up with demand.”
LOW-TIDE SIGHTS: Though the tide wasn’t as low today as yesterday, there were still sights to be seen, as evidenced by the Flickr gallery that Carrie e-mailed to share – check it out here. (She took her photos near the Alki Point lighthouse.)
Yesterday and today saw the lowest tides of the year so far — but in four weeks, they’ll be even lower. Thanks to Charley Biggs for sharing another round of photos – above, a razor boring (according to Minette in comments) clam; next, a purple sun star:
METRO OPTIMISM: Kery Murakami at the Seattle Post-Globe (the citywide news site run by ex-P-I journalists) writes that a Metro audit report discussed this morning suggests bus-service cuts forced by budget woes may not have to be as big as feared. See his story here.
TIDE TURNING: Fascinating study reported at Three Sheets Northwest (hat tip seattlepi.com for pointing it out): Along the West Coast, the difference between daily high and low tides is growing. Researchers aren’t sure why, but they’re working on it. This by the way gives us an excuse to remind tide-walking fans that the next round of noteworthy minus tides starts this Friday morning – here’s the tide chart.
SIDEWALK ART UPDATE: If you’re on Facebook (where you can “friend” us as WS Blog), check out the photo album by SuttonBeresCuller showing the latest photos from its sidewalk-art installation in front of the new Morgan Junction Park. We first reported on the plan for this installation exactly 7 months ago; other neighborhoods declined the chance to get it, but Morgan Junction had no qualms and it’s there now for your sidewalk-chalking enjoyment.
Thanks to Mary T. and David Sheely for sharing that photo from this afternoon’s low tide at Alki; the tide will be just as low tomorrow right before 2 pm, but then we won’t see tides this low till late May. Down the shore a ways, David Hutchinson checked back with some members of Harbor Avenue’s semi-celebrity Canada goose family:
Bonus — just as we were getting ready to hit “publish,” Alma sent us a photo of tonight’s sunset:
Thanks again to everyone who shares photos via WSB – whether breaking news or beautiful sunsets – editor@wsb.blackfin.biz any time!
The miracle of portable technology – you can take advantage of brilliant sun and not stay out of touch. We were actually photographing the flotilla of brant in the background, when we caught the beachgoer in the foreground. Elsewhere on Alki, crews were getting the tennis courts in shape for summer:
Thanks to Tim McMonigle from the 
METRO OPTIMISM: Kery Murakami at the 
TIDE TURNING: Fascinating study 
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